baulk

British  

/ bɔːk, bɔːlk /

noun

1. Also (US): balk.  billiards

   1. the space, usually 29 inches deep, between the baulk line and the bottom cushion

   2. (in baulk-line games) one of the spaces between the cushions and the baulk lines

   3. inside one of these spaces

2. archaeol a strip of earth left between excavation trenches for the study of the complete stratigraphy of a site

3. croquet either of two lines ( A baulk and B baulk ) at diagonally opposite ends of the court, from which the ball is struck into play

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verb

1. a variant spelling of balk

Example Sentences

But many Australians baulk at the idea of "living with the virus", after being used to low infection rates.

From BBC • Sep. 3, 2021

But most people in the US baulk at contact-tracing apps, according to a Washington Post-University of Maryland poll, because of privacy concerns.

From BBC • Jul. 6, 2020

Many players in her situation would baulk at thinking of a grand final against Williams as just “another match”.

From The Guardian • Sep. 7, 2018

Purists may baulk at his inclusion of pellagra, beriberi and other disorders of malnutrition, but that allows for a richer range of material and interpretation.

From Nature • Dec. 13, 2016

Just as over-scrupulous historians refuse to use the words ‘revolution’, ‘science’ and ‘scientist’ when writing about the seventeenth century, they baulk at using Butterfield’s other word, ‘modern’, because it, too, seems to them inherently anachronistic.

From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton